by Tim McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The caller had to ask, Are you there? Yes, he was still there, but Fletcher Allen Health Care CEO John Brumsted needed a moment to process what he had just heard. Burlington businessman and philanthropist Bob Miller had just told him that he and his wife, Holly, wanted to meet with him to discuss what would be the largest gift in the Burlington hospitals history.
Miller chuckled about that first conversation during a ceremony at Holly Court Thursday morning. He called Brumsted in early March and the deal happened fast. At the ceremony Miller handed Brumsted the deed to the property.
The Millers are famous for their support of local charities and institutions. They are the largest lifetime contributors to Champlain College, for instance.
The gift to Fletcher Allen isnt cash, exactly, but it is the entire Holly Court industrial park in Williston. The 15-acre commercial site is valued at $13 million. The two buildings now there are nearly 200,000 square feet. Fletcher Allen is already a tenant.
FAHC not only will no longer have to pay the $750,000 annual lease fee, but will become a landlord to a handful of other tenants.
We are extremely grateful to the Millers for this very generous donation, said John Brumsted, MD, president and chief executive officer at Fletcher Allen. With this gift, the Millers have demonstrated a huge commitment to Fletcher Allen and to its future. This valuable asset opens up a myriad of opportunities for us, including relocation of some non-clinical functions.
Our association with Fletcher Allen goes back decades, said Bob Miller. Holly and I are very pleased to be able to make this gift to help provide flexibility in Fletcher Allens overall facilities planning.
The Millers have been strong supporters of the hospital and academic medical center since the early 1980s when they became involved with the Childrens Miracle Network Telethon. They have also made significant contributions to major facilities projects at Fletcher Allen over the past several decades, and Holly Miller is a founding member of the Fletcher Allen Foundation Board - the entity that guides the organizations philanthropic efforts.
In addition, the couple has provided leadership gifts to:
Establish the Holly and Robert Miller Caring for Nurses Initiative at the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences (2010)
Create Fletcher Allens Rural Palliative Care Network (2011)
Institute a new fellowship in hospice and palliative care for advanced practice nurses at the Vermont Palliative Care Collaborative (2012)
Their interest in and support of palliative and end-of-life care includes Holly's founding membership on the Vermont Respite House board and a lead gift for the initial construction. Holly also serves as a council member of Madison-Deane Initiative, a program under the Visiting Nurse Association's umbrella of end-of-life services.
The Millers support a number of other local organizations, including their own scholarship program to assist college-bound students who attended the Integrated Arts Academy at HO Wheeler elementary school in the Old North End of Burlington. They have been generous supporters of Champlain College, The Visiting Nurse Association, UVM and the King Street Youth Center, to name a few.
We want to give back to our community it brings great meaning to our lives, said Bob Miller. And our interest is in helping those organizations that help others in need and make a difference in our community. We are fortunate to have a medical center such as this and I feel strongly it is deserving of our support.
Miller, who is called by nearly everyone "Bobby," is the owner of REM Development and Miller Realty in Williston. He has holdings across the county and about 2 million square feet of commercial real estate. He also owns the 600,000-square-foot roasting plant in Essex Junction near Susie Wilson Road into which GMCR moved its Holly Court operations. The other large tenant, Resolution, moved out of state.
Approximately 35 staff are located at Holly Court, many of whom are engaged in managing and delivering supplies and equipment from inventory. The warehouse, full of all the medical stuff common to patients, from gauze to plastic tubing to ginger ale, has tight aisles piled high with supplies. Staff with carts, electric or push, search for required items. It's quieter, cleaner and tighter than a typical industrial warehouse.
The remainder of the larger building is being vacated to allow Fletcher Allen to make full use of the space as part of its future facilities planning. Fletcher Allen also occupies space in the smaller building along with a scientific supply company.
When Miller first thought of calling Fletcher Allen about the Holly Court building, he was going to ask them about whether they wanted to lease more space. Both Resolution and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters had moved out leaving a large block of warehouse space available.
As Bobby Miller recalled Thursday, he then talked to his family and he and Holly decided that the greatest impact they could make was to gift not only the building, but the entire site to the hospital.
Holly Miller, clearly moved when she spoke, said her hard working parents had no health insurance for their five children. They lived in Burlington and got their health care at the then Mary Fletcher hospital. Money was tight, she said, and they would pay the hospital maybe $5 at a time, when they could.
I doubt they were ever paid in full, she said.